Strengths
- Tether is expanding its gold push by investing another $100 million into Canadian royalty company Elemental Altus after already building a major stake earlier this year. The move adds to its $8.7 billion stockpile of gold bars stored in Switzerland and highlights its strategy of tying stablecoin operations to hard assets.
Publicly traded companies worldwide now hold more than 1 million BTC, representing nearly 5% of the total supply. Strategy (MSTR) dominates the list with 636,505 BTC, followed by MARA Holdings with 50,639 BTC and XXI with 43,514 BTC, while dozens of other firms contribute smaller but growing allocations.
- Stablecoins could shift from niche to mainstream by 2030, powering over $50 trillion in annual payments—especially in cross-border and B2B flows—while retail adoption grows more slowly, mostly through digital wallets, e-commerce and gaming.
Weaknesses
- Nasdaq is tightening rules on companies trying to pump their stock by raising money to buy crypto, forcing some to get shareholder approval first and potentially slowing the boom of firms racing to turn themselves into crypto plays.
- Trump’s family-backed crypto project World Liberty Financial stumbled at launch after billionaire investor Justin Sun’s wallet was blacklisted, sparking a public clash, a 40% price drop and fresh doubts about the project’s credibility.
- North Korean hackers are impersonating recruiters on LinkedIn and Telegram, luring crypto workers with fake job offers. Once victims download “test assignments,” hidden malware steals access to their wallets.
Opportunities
- Polymarket says it now has the regulatory approvals it needs to launch in the U,S., after the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) granted a no-action letter that clears costly reporting hurdles and effectively gives the crypto prediction market the green light to go live.
- Japan Post Bank plans to let its 120 million account holders swap deposits for DCJPY tokens by 2026, enabling near-instant settlement of securities and other transactions as it joins the MUFG-backed tokenized asset network.
- David Bailey, the Trump-linked crypto investor, has unveiled “MSTR Squared,” a strategy where his Bitcoin treasury company invests directly in other Bitcoin treasury firms. The goal is to expand corporate Bitcoin holdings globally and turn these treasuries into a powerful network of capital.
Threats
- An $8.5 million luxury cruise to the North Pole carrying over 150 elite Russian-speaking guests was abruptly canceled after a crypto scandal erupted, derailing what was meant to be an exclusive high-society Arctic voyage.
- Coinbase has filed a lawsuit against Dynapass, seeking a ruling that its use of two-factor authentication does not violate Dynapass’s patent. The company also argues that the patent is invalid and wants the court to declare it unenforceable.
- In India, several crypto exchanges have been flagged for secretly using client assets in trading, lending, or staking without disclosure. Users bear the risk while platforms keep the profits.
